Schmydro - Schnelles Hydro16.
--------
Title                   : Schmydro Bases
Release Date            : 25 August 2004
Filename                : CTF-Schmydro.unr
Author                  : Sidney 'Clawfist' Rauchberger
Modified by		: LittleFlower
Email Address           : littleflower@xs4all.nl


The original Hydro
------------------
Hydro16 is originally a CTF map that was released in the first
official bonuspack by Epic. It was made by Sidney 'Clawfist'
Rauchberger. The map was used in clanwars for a couple of years.
But over time it grew less and less popular. The map is too large,
and gameplay is too defensive.


What I did
----------
I've taken the original map, and made some changes to improve
gameplay. I've spent way more time on this project than I originally
planned. I've made more changes than I intended. But the result is
hopefully a map that is fun to play again. Both on FFA and in
clanwars. There are changes to geometry/architecture, powerup
placement is now more in favor of attackers, midfield is less open
for snipers, and some trickjumps were added.


Still testing
-------------
At the time this README was written, the map has been played for
a while on the iNzane FFA server (thanks iNz !). There were a number
of beta versions, but this is the final version. I don't plan on
making more changes, but if you have any comments or suggestions,
feel free to email me. littleflower@xs4all.nl.


Known issues
------------
- There is a BSP problem with the ceiling inside the towers. I don't
  know yet how to fix this. Maybe later.

- When you are in the sniper tower, looking through the window towards
  midfield, frames/sec drops noticably. I know this. The original map
  had the same problem. (Actually even a little worse). There is not
  much I can do about it.

- Although lots of changes have been made to make the map faster, the
  heritage of the original Hydro remains. The sniperrifle is still
  a very powerfull weapon. It is still hard to get across the enemy
  courtyard. It is still possible to play bratwurst strategies. IMHO
  the map is better than the original, but if a team wants to play
  lame, they can always find ways to do so.


Changes
-------
- The map is a lot smaller now.
  Flagruns are now twice as fast, 20-25 seconds, in stead of 50
  seconds in the original. You can xloc from flag to flag in
  under 15 seconds.

- The rooms inside the base have changed. The 8ball room is a lot
  smaller. The old armor room has rotated 90 degrees. Narrow
  corridors between flagroom, old armorroom and asmd-room have
  been removed to prevent easy defense by spam. There are now
  two vents (windows) from courtyard to pad-room. There is a door
  between flak-room and 8ball-room.

- Item placement. Shieldbelt is in the snipertower. Armor is in
  the asmd-room. Pads are in the flak room (where the armor used to
  be). There is an amp in midfield. Hopefully these changes will make
  life easier for attackers. There are quite a few healthvials, but
  there were even more in the original Hydro.

- Getting out of the enemybase across the enemy courtyard was still
  very difficult. Therefor I added a way to jump/dodge on top of
  the large pile of crates in the flakroom, and get throught the
  window to the courtyard without the need for a hammerjump.

- Sniper tower is shorter. Bridges are shorter. You can get from
  flagpoint to courtyard quicker. You can do hammerjumps through
  the 2 windows in the flak-room. Most of the way from flagbase to
  courtyard is downstairs, to allow for faster dodges. All combined
  this makes a very fast map.

- Added a third bridge. This allows flagrunners to hide from sniper
  fire from courtyard when crossing the slimepit. The slimepit is not
  deadly anymore, hopefull preventing some frustration. When you fall,
  you can xloc back up the bridges. Small damage prevents people from
  hiding in the slime.

- Added banners and crates in midfield. This will hopefully make it
  more difficult for snipers to control the bridges. The banners do
  not block players or bullets. They only limit the view.

- Added a few trickjumps. Check out the pillars next to the sniper
  tower. Try the liftjump up to the crate in midfield. These tricks
  have been made slightly easier, to encourage use during online
  games. Try a hammer jump from flag to mini, and you can dodge
  via the 8ball to midfield very quickly.

- Places invisible collision hulls between boxes and sloped
  walls. This will make it impossible to get stuck there.


  That's it.

  Have fun playing !
  And remember, when you are a good player, show your style by trying
 to balance teams in FFA, and make FFA games fun, exciting and close
 for everyone ! Thanks.

      Henk (aka LittleFlower)

   
--
PS. I removed the brushes from the map after compiling, but before
saving. This reduces the uncompressed map size from 3.7MB to 2.7MB.
If you want to have a look at the map in UnrealED, mail me, and I'll
send you the map with brushes.
PPS. All real artistic credit goes to Sidney 'Clawfist' Rauchberger.
He created the map. I just did some re-engineering. :p
